Before I started watching this anime, I was afraid it was kinda clone of SAO or Log Horizon but much worse. But luckily I got so wrong. Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is far better than those two, not to mention about others in this genre.
The main problem of such animes is too much fan service in them, boobs, ecchi stuff, harem, dumb "comedy" scenes, etc, which all eventually ruin the story. This happened with both SAO and Log Horizon I mentioned. But not with Hai to Gensou no Grimgar.
It has practically no fan service.. Ok, there is a one pervert character obsessed with spying on naked girls and call them flat-breasted; Haruhiro's guildmaster and a bit of short scenes here and there, but all is happening somewhere on a backstage and does not interfere with the main plot.
And thanks anime lord, there is no goddam harem, absolutely not, not even "love triangle". No "boobies" all around during peace or fight scenes. Even "big-breasted" Shihoru looks like an ordinary girl, not a cow-girl with giant udder sticking out of her body.
Creators went even further - they didn't include any "pet" animal companions (even without ability of speaking), no elves or cat-girls or any kind of "loli princesses" obsessed with main character.
No dumb jokes or other "embarrassing moments" are included either. It is not a comedy anime, wrong address.
Lack of all abovementiond elements of today's fan service, made possible to concentrate more on story, characters, fight scene, dialogues and the anime world itself. It is not colorful, sleek world with beautiful cities, crowded streets, merchants and magical creatures living happily together. Despite really good looking landscapes with attractive nature and amazing star-filled sky scenes, it's rather gloomy world, filled with desperation and daily bloody violence to survive. No one knows where they are from, what are their goals, why are they fighting. No, there is no place for "cute" things.
Long story short, advantages are: Well made characters, impressive graphics, realistic fight scenes, right overall atmosphere, no fan service.
Disadvantages: Rather unclear plot - requires a sequel to reveal what is going on, very short duration - 12 episodes were not enough to fully develop the story and also subjectively I wanted more to watch.
Story - 6
Art - 7
Sound - 6
Characters - 7
Enjoyment - 7
Overall - 7 / 10
